INCLUSION DAILY
EXPRESS

Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights,
self-determination and the movement toward full community inclusion around
the world.

Thursday, October 16, 2003Year IV, Edition 160

This front page features 8 news and information items,
each preceded by a number (#) symbol.Click on the"Below the Fold"
link at the bottom of this page for the rest of today's news.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:"When you get into one, it doesn't matter if
you're in a wheelchair or you're 74 or you're 12. The playing field is level
and you all seem to become the same mysterious age."--Bill Allen, whose
Forever Young Tree Houses Inc. builds tree houses that are accessible to
wheelchair users of all ages (Fifth story)

"I cannot live with this proposal."--Sheila Romano of the
Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, who voted against a proposal to
reopen Lincoln Developmental Center and move people with disabilities back into
the facility (Second story)

TAMPA,
FLORIDA--Four attorneys have written Florida Governor Jeb Bush to inform him
that he not only has the power -- he has the duty -- to stop the starvation
death of Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed Wednesday.

The attorneys pointed out that court orders allowing Terri, 39, to
starve are violating her constitutionally-guaranteed "inalienable right to
enjoy and defend life" regardless of her "physical disability."

Richard Thompson, chief counsel at the Thomas More Law Center, said the
governor also has "sufficient evidence" to "conduct a formal criminal
investigation" into claims that Michael Schiavo abused his wife.

Bush on Wednesday told Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, that he
would direct his legal staff to find a way to block the court order and have
the feeding tube replaced. Bush previously supported the parents in court, but
has said he does not have any authority over the courts.

About 100 disability advocates and right-to-life supporters have been
holding an around-the-clock vigil outside the hospice where Terri has stayed
for the last several years. According to one report, Terri's parents have
received 10,000 email and other messages supporting their efforts to keep Terri
alive.

Terri collapsed from a chemical imbalance in February 1990 and her brain
was without oxygen for several minutes. Some doctors have said her brain was
damaged to the point that she is in a "persistent vegetative state" and will
not recover, but would likely survive to age 51.

Her husband, who is also her guardian, has claimed that his wife told
him she would not want to live by "artificial means". Even though Terri
breathes and controls her own blood pressure, Mr. Schiavo petitioned the court
in 1998 to have the feeding tube removed which provides her with food and
water. The courts have consistently supported Mr. Schiavo's position, except
when a court ordered her feeding tube reinstalled two days after being removed
in April 2001.

Terri's parents insist that their daughter is often alert, that she
laughs with them, tries to talk, and could benefit from rehabilitation
including speech and swallowing therapies. They believe Mr. Schiavo wants Terri
to die so he can have what's left of a $1 million malpractice settlement from
1993, and because he wants to marry his longtime girlfriend, with whom he now
has a child and another on the way.

In a related story, a neurologist who reviewed a video tape of Terri's
interactions with her mother, called her starvation death "murder".

"She turned to her mom, responded to mom in the room, there was no doubt
this woman had minimal but definite cognizant function, she was not in a
vegetative state," said Dr. Jacob Green. "She's alive . . . there's no question
in my mind she is not brain dead."

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS--A 22-member statewide task force, which
included only one person with a disability, has voted to approve a plan to
reopen Lincoln Developmental Center.

The panel voted 19-3 to reopen 20 beds an existing building while four
new 10-bed buildings are built.

"I cannot live with this proposal," said Sheila Romano of the Illinois
Council on Developmental Disabilities, who voted against the proposal along
with the panel member with a disability and a representative from United
Cerebral Palsy.

LDC housed 250 people with developmental disabilities before former
Governor George Ryan ordered it closed in August 2002. The facility had been
losing federal money because of allegations of staff abuse and neglect.

Current Governor Rod Blagojevich made a campaign promise of reopening of
LDC and hiring back state employees that had been laid off when the institution
closed.

Advocates for community services see the reopening of LDC as a
"significant step backward". Union members and family members of former LDC
residents call it a "step in the right direction".

EALING, ENGLAND--The following five paragraphs are excerpts from a
brief article in Thursday's Ealing Times:

Last month a woman telephoned the offices of the Times to say she had
been discriminated against while trying to have lunch out at a west London
restaurant.

The lady in question was deaf and had her assistance dog with her 
but was told that she could not eat in the restaurant with her dog as it was
against health and safety regulations. The woman left the restaurant,
dreadfully embarrassed and unsure about her rights as a disabled customer.

These days many of us like to think our modern society is open and
caring enough to treat people with disabilities in the same way as an able
bodied person.

But the case outlined above is just one of many hundreds of incidents of
people being treated differently because of a disability.

After a three-month investigation, Ritter determined that there was not
enough evidence to convict Denver Police Officer James Turney on any criminal
charges. Turney "had a reasonable belief that he was in imminent danger" when
he shot the 15-year-old four times, Ritter said.

Now that the investigation is complete, attorney Johnnie Cochran can
proceed with a lawsuit against the city on behalf of Childs' family.

On July 5, the family called police in the hopes that they could help
calm Childs down after a series of outbursts in his home. Turney shot Childs,
who had epilepsy and mental retardation, when the teen failed to follow police
instructions to drop a kitchen knife he was clutching to his chest. A fellow
officer standing next to Turney was armed with a non-lethal Taser, but claimed
he was not in a position to use it.

A neurologist later suggested that Childs' behavior prior to the
shooting may have been caused by the after-effects of a massive seizure he had
experienced a few days earlier.

The incident has prompted legislators to consider "Paul's Law", a
measure that would require all law enforcement officers and dispatchers in
Colorado to undergo crisis-intervention training, along with specific
instruction on dealing with suspects who have mental illness or developmental
disabilities. It also has prompted the family to prepare the federal civil
rights suit against the police department.

Civil rights groups, including the ACLU, have called for an independent
investigation.

This is the second time prosecutors have cleared Turney in the fatal
shooting of a teen with a disability in the same neighborhood. In 2002, Turney
was one of two officers who shot Gregory Smith, a partially deaf 18-year-old,
after he pulled a knife. No charges were filed in that case either.

---

# ACCESSIBILITY / RECREATION

Team Creates Accessible Tree
HousesOctober 16, 2003

BURLINGTON, VERMONT--Thursday's National
Post featured the story about Bill Allen and Phil Trabulsy, who in 1999 formed
Forever Young Tree Houses Inc.

So far, their non-profit organization has built four
wheelchair-accessible tree houses across the United States and is currently
building a fifth at Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire. The designers have come
up with an elaborate system that incorporates large wooden ramps capable of
carrying motorized wheelchairs weighing up to 400 pounds.

The tree house they completed most recently is 800 square feet. The ramp
leading up to the house, however, is 4,000 square feet and can accommodate up
to 48 wheelchair users.

"It's home plate to center field in a football field. It weaves through
23 trees and it's just fabulous," said Allen.

"They're ageless places," he added. "When you get into one, it doesn't
matter if you're in a wheelchair or you're 74 or you're 12. The playing field
is level and you all seem to become the same mysterious age."